WNBA champ Natasha Cloud says fan outrage over fouls on Caitlin Clark amounts to 'racism'

Caitlin Clark had 19 assists in the Indiana Fever’s loss to the Dallas Wings, setting a WNBA record. Clark was left off of the Olympic team and out of the WNBA All-Star skills competition.

WNBA champion Natasha Cloud took aim at the sport's new fans who were critical of fouls committed against Caitlin Clark last season. 

During an interview on the "Pivot Podcast" with Ryan Clark, Cloud weighed in on the debate that rocked the WNBA last year when several illegal hits against Clark prompted outrage from many of her fans. 

Cloud, who said she lost a tooth from a hit earlier in her career, insisted the outrage on behalf of Clark was rooted in "racism." 

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Natasha Cloud of the Phoenix Mercury during a game against the Indiana Fever June 30, 2024, at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz.  (Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

"It's just a part of the game. There was no targeting, there was no nothing. That narrative that got spun into, 'Oh, the vets hate the rookies. The rookies hate the vets. The vets are going after certain players,' it’s all bulls---. If I'm just going to be frank, it's all bulls---. What it is is racism," Cloud said. 

INSIDE CAITLIN CLARK AND ANGEL REESE'S IMPACT ON MEN'S BASKETBALL

Clark took an infamous illegal hip check from Chicago Sky forward Chennedy Carter June 1. Fellow Sky player and Clark's archrival, Angel Reese, struck Clark in the head with her arm while trying to block a pass during a game June 16. On Aug. 31, another Sky player, Diamond DeShields, sent Clark flying across the floor for a foul that was later upgraded to flagrant.

In Clark's first playoff game against the Connecticut Sun Sept. 22, Sun player DiJonai Carrington gave Clark a